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Wondrous Wednesday 24: The Wonder of Boredom

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Summary

Boredom week theme. Being in state of wonder while bored (borders on meditation). Boredom = brain at rest wanting something to flex around. In boredom notice quietness, solitude. Outside: breeze, birds, cicadas, wind touch, tree shadows, grass, clover. Boredom leads to being present - fully in the moment. Observe details of old wooden bench - gradations, lines, swirls. Taking it in without meaning. Simply exist right here, right now. Zone of tranquility. Wonder of boredom: allows you to fully exist like you rarely do elsewhere.

Transcript

0:00 Welcome to ANI In The Air, Wondrous Wednesday, where I talk about something wondrous.
0:06 So the theme of the week is boredom, and sort of the talk about Tuesday that I did was about
0:24 the usefulness of boredom, essentially.
0:27 And so that seems to suggest something that I would have talked about on Wondrous Wednesday.
0:32 So I'm going to try something really even much more difficult to talk about, which is
0:41 being in the state of wonder while bored.
0:50 This definitely gets on the border of the line with meditation, and so maybe that's
1:00 just what this is, but I'm going to try to explore it.
1:04 So you're bored.
1:07 You're currently in a state of boredom.
1:10 You're listening to my voice, and you are so bored.
1:16 So bored.
1:17 What does that mean?
1:18 That means your brain is at rest.
1:25 It wants something more because the brain is an active organ, it wants to flex that
1:30 muscle, and instead there's nothing to flex around, there's nothing to grasp, right?
1:39 That could be thought of as boredom.
1:43 So you are bored right now.
1:45 But notice in that boredom the quietness, the solitude.
1:52 If you're outside like I am on a beautiful, windy, well slightly windy day, you're going
1:58 to hear the breeze, you're going to hear the birds and the cicadas, you're going to feel
2:03 that gentle touch of the wind on you, just blowing.
2:10 You're going to see the shadow of the tree moving back and forth, everything waving,
2:18 the grass being lit up in the sun, the clover sprinkled amongst the green, cicadas buzzing
2:32 around, flying around, possibly landing on you.
2:36 Okay, that might not be boring, but you see all this thing, you are in the moment.
2:43 Boredom has led you to being present.
2:48 That is the wonder of boredom, to be fully in the moment.
2:54 You look at, say, a bench, an old wooden bench, and you notice the gradations, the lines,
3:06 the swirls, the darkness.
3:09 You just see it all.
3:10 It doesn't mean anything, but you're just observing.
3:13 You are taking it in.
3:15 That is the beauty and the wonder of boredom, right there.
3:23 You're hearing my voice, talking about this, you feel relaxed, nothing, nothing matters
3:33 right now.
3:34 You simply be, you simply exist right here, right now, in this moment.
3:43 You can feel yourself sitting, standing, whatever you're doing.
3:50 That is what you're doing.
3:54 That is your existence.
3:55 That's all there is.
3:56 There is nothing else.
3:58 Just for this one moment in time, you are completely relaxed.
4:05 You are in a zone of tranquility.
4:11 Your mind is not buzzing, is not thinking.
4:16 You don't have words on the tip of your tongue.
4:19 You are just experiencing and expressing your existence in this universe, in this moment,
4:26 in this location, right here, right now, with the wind blowing through your hair.
4:32 Even if you have short hair like I do, like really tiny little fibers of hair just blowing
4:39 through the hair, and you just feel like you're just those trees in the distance swaying back
4:48 and forth.
4:50 All the details that you see right now that no one else is seeing, no one else will ever
4:56 see, but you see these particular specific moments.
5:01 That is the wonder of boredom.
5:03 That is what boredom gives you.
5:05 That is the power of boredom in the moment, right now, allowing you to fully exist like
5:13 you so rarely do anywhere else, anytime else.
5:18 All of the other emotions are just not there.
5:22 You are fully gone and everywhere and just here.
5:33 That my friends is the wonder of boredom.
5:40 I will be seeing you when I see you, whether or not I am bored or not, I am relaxed.